What’s On TV Tonight, And How Not To Lose Your Money Gamblin’

Welcome to SportsGrid’s new, daily feature, where we tell you what sports are on TV tonight. Then, I do my best to help you win some money while watching. You know, if you’re into that sort of thing, and gambling is legal in your jurisdiction. Feel free to tweet hateful things at me if my advice moves you to do so. TV games are often the toughest games to find an edge on, so don’t go crazy, people. If I do recommend a bet, I’ll keep track of it, so you can tell me how awful (or wonderful?) I am. For record-keeping, we’ll assume a standard bet is $10. Occasionally, there will be 2x or 3x bets, maybe 4 or 5 if I’m feeling spunky. Good luck, America!

Yes, I’d rather watch the NCAA Tournament, but the NIT Championship is still good basketball. Iowa is good enough that they could’ve made a run in the NCAA Tournament. Baylor has the worst coach in the world but they are extremely talented and Pierre Jackson is the best. Betting on Scott Drew is not something you want to do often, but that fact actually gives Baylor some value.

Baylor +2.5 (-104), $5 to win $4.81 AND ML (+130), $1 to win $1.30

NHL: Devils (+177) at Bruins (-190) (7:00 p.m., NHLN)

I am a diehard Devils fan, and I can confidently say that the Devils suck right now. Ilya Kovalchuk is hurt. They look awful. I have not backed them in a while.

These are two very similar teams. They are two of the best defensive teams in the league. The Devils do have Martin Brodeur, though, which means they have the goaltending edge. Neither team is explosive on the power play, and both teams have a great penalty kill. But… the Devils can’t score. Boston can, and that’s why they’re a Cup contender, and the Devils are struggling to stay in the playoffs.

It’s tough to back the Devils now, but this price is inflated. Nobody wants to bet them right now. The Devils play tight defensive teams like Boston very well, and this should be a close game. The Bruins should be favored because they’re better, but this has the looks of a tight game. That means there’s value on the underdog, the under, and the possibility of overtime. The OT bet is inflated because Boston is such a heavy favorite. This should be fun, I hope. Spread out some bets, guys.

NBA: Bulls at Nets (-5.5) (7:00 p.m., TNT)

The Bulls are playing well, covering the spread in six of their past nine games. The Nets are on a back-to-back, coming home from an 8-game road trip.

Bulls +5.5 (-103), $5 to win $4.85 AND ML (+185), $1 to win $1.85

NBA: Spurs at Thunder (-7.5) (9:30 p.m., TNT)

The Spurs have never been an underdog of more than 6.5 points this season. They nearly won outright when they were +6.5. I’ll back the Spurs as huge underdogs anytime. And since the line expects them to get beaten easily, I think the total is off. There should be more points than the line indicates.